Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) is a therapeutic technique used in the treatment of various neurological disorders. Generally, CES involves the application of micro-electric pulses to the patient via electrodes placed on the head. CES works to bring the neurotransmitters back into normal pre-stress homeostasis. CES will enable the patient to begin from a “fresh start” position biochemically.
In other words, the neurotransmitters in the brain are ideally in a homeostatic balance with each other, so that if any group of neurons produce too much of a given neurotransmitter, another counteracting group of neurons will fire a counteracting neurotransmitter to inhibit the firing of the first neuron group. The counteracting neurotransmitter diminishes the production of the initial, given neurotransmitter by the first group of neurons. In this way, acetylcholine and dopamine maintain a mutual balance; endorphins and norepinephrine maintain a mutual balance, and so forth.
However, if a real or perceived stressor arises, the brain quickly shifts out of the normal homeostasis to prepare the person for fight or flight. When the emergency subsides, the brain comes back to its original balance and the person returns to normal. If the stressor continues and does not subside over time, the brain does not return to normal homeostasis, but sets up a new homeostasis based on its stress condition. Bad things happen to the body and brain when the stress homeostasis is set up, with the resulting cortisol attacking everything from the memory centers in the brain to bodily organs such as the heart and stomach.
Scientific literature supports that CES gains its treatment benefit by stimulating the brain tissue to manufacture the various neurotransmitters. The numerous stresses that impinge upon a person tend to shift the body's hormone structure to adjust to the continuing presence of the stressor. This adjustment creates a biochemical imbalance that can be very destructive to the body and brain. As part of the stress reaction, the neurotransmitters in the brain are shifted out of normal states and into altered states of balance.
One role of CES is to force the neurotransmitters out of the stress homeostasis and back into their original, pre-stress balance. It does this by stimulating the various sections of the brain to manufacture neurotransmitters. If the neurons that manufacture norepinephrine have been working overtime (due to the stress reaction) while those making endorphins have remained relatively quiescent, when CES is applied, over the passage of time the norepinephrin neurons will be activated relatively less. The endorphin neurons will then be relatively more active than they were, and at their new strength will begin inhibitory firing of the norepinephrine neurons. The treatment process will ultimately bring them into similar firing rates in which they once again maintain a mutual, homeostatic balance.
However, there are problems associated with conventional CES. For instance, people have varying degrees of responsiveness to CES. Furthermore, monitoring the varying degrees of responsiveness can be of concern.
Therefore, there is a need for CES treatments that address at least some of the problems associated with conventional CES treatments.